


Stoic keeper and sick girl

by Blackdragon1998



Series: Reader x USWNT [3]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of Cancer, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29562708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackdragon1998/pseuds/Blackdragon1998
Summary: Y/N) is a goalkeeper for the USA woman national team who at one of their games sees a girl in the stands who catches her eyes. The girl makes memories from the past resurface and secrets are revealed.Also, COVID19 doesn’t exist in this fic!
Relationships: Alex Morgan/Kelley O'Hara, Ali Krieger & Reader, Ali Krieger/Stephanie Labbé, Ashlyn Harris & Reader, Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Kelley O'Hara & Christen Press, Kelley O'Hara & Emily Sonnett, Kelley O'Hara & Reader, Sue Bird/Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath/Christen Press, reader & Krashlyn
Series: Reader x USWNT [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032255
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> warrnings: Talking about cancer. if this is a trigger don’t read. Everything mentioned is from my own experience as may not apply to everybody.

Around the soccer world, you are known as a stoic and collected keeper, even more than Alyssa. People would even call you cold when you had a bad day. You know the reputation you have and you’re okay with it. That all didn’t take away from how efficient you were on the field and your teammates have learned to take your stoic expression in stride, the girls had learned to leave you alone when you weren’t in the mood of being social. At least they learned to do it most of the time.

other times Carli and Alyssa forced you to interact with the rest of the team and even for how threatening you were those two still scared you.

Alyssa was the first person you bounded with at nationals. the woman was, even more, broodier than you at times. Turns out she liked to wake up early and do Sudoku’s so one morning you joined. The other people you bounded with are Ali and Ash. The first time you had seen Ashlyn you were mesmerized by her tattoos and asked where she got them. The pair was surprised at how enthusiastic you got over them but Ash matched your enthusiasm and during the conversation found more topics the two of you had in common.

The couple found out you turned into a whole other person when you talked about the things you loved.

The others didn’t believe them when until they saw you in a heated debate with Ash about your favourite dog. Since then the veterans went easier on you when you were in a bad mood. Well, the veterans were not the once you had problems with.

The younger players were a tight nit group that liked to have fun. It just seemed that their kind of fun wasn’t your kind. They liked to go out and get drunk, you liked to stay indoors and play videogames or read a good book. At first, you had tried to bound with them but after Sonnett called you a buzzkill when you tried to explain why you liked to read you stopped trying.

Ali and Ash picked up on it but you reassured them to not worry about it and told them you were used to people looking at you like you were weird. You knew they wanted to ask questions but those were memories you didn’t want to explain.

The match against Canada had just ended, which the USA had won with 1 to 0 when a harsh wind picked up and caused you to pull the beanie closer over your ears. The sun may be shining but it was still the dead of winter so it was cold as hell.

Sadly you hadn’t been able to play this match but Alyssa had killed it out there, you couldn’t wait to tell her how amazing she had done.

A girl that couldn’t be older than twelve at the front of the stadium caught your eye. She was bundled up in a thin-looking sweater and a thin-looking bandana on her head, her skin was sickinly pale with a distinct sunburn on her cheeks. The other thing that stood out was the facemask she was wearing. You frowned when you heard kids around her gossip and point at her. Kids could be brutal if they wanted too.

Instead of calling the out you made your way into the stands and made your way to the girl. As you were walking toward them you just knew that you were going to get a reprimanding from Alyssa when you got back about walking off without telling anybody.

The girl hadn’t noticed yet you and was still looking out at the field where the rest of the team was celebrating.

“hello.” You put a hand on the girl's shoulder to get her attention. That scares her a little but you smile at her when she turns around to reassure her.

You see the moment she recognizes you under your beanie.

“you… you are (Y/N) (L/N).” you think it’s kind of cute how the sentence comes out like a question or how flustered she got about it.

“yes, I am.” You respond with a small chuckle.

“ (Y/N) (L/N) is talking to me!” you see the euphoria morph into confusion.

“Why?” she asks after.

“why what?” you ask her in a soothing tone, picking up her distress.

“Why are you talking to someone like me?” the girl questions while looking at the ground.

“I saw all alone in the crowd and wanted to make sure you were okay. Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you?” you keep your voice soothing not to stress her out even more. She mumbles out something under her breath you don’t catch.

“what was that?” you crouch a little so you are eye height with her to hear her better.

However, before she can repeat herself you see a security guard coming up to you and calling you to the girl. What you understand from his yelling is that she snook into the stadium. You felled the little girl stiffen next to you and kind of got the conformation there.

“did you sneak in?” you whisper to the girl. She gave you a small nod.

“What is your name?” you ask her in the same hushed tone. The girl looks up at you with wide eyes but answers non the less.

“Lexa.” Her voice was as small as yours. You nod and stand up turning toward the guard. You keep your face neutral as you talk to him.

“it’s okay, she is with me.” You tell him not referring to the sneaking in. you take advantage of the surprise on his face when he realizes who you are and motion for Lexa to stand up. As you grab her backpack. After basically lying through your teeth the guard leaves and you turn back to Lexa.

You saw her knees buckle when she tried to walk and you quickly scooped her up so she wouldn’t fall. She is also feeling too cold for your liking and quickly put the coat over her that was lying next to her.

“it’s okay I got you.” You feel Lexa snuggle into your warmth and decide to take her somewhere warm. You opted for the trainer's locker room, it should be empty by now and is an environment you can control.

You set her down on one of the benches and place her backpack next to her. Trying to give her a sense of security.

“You can take your mask off if you like. I know how stuffy it can get.” You tell her, taking a seat on the opposite wall. Lexa eyes you curiously, you smile at her to put her at ease.

“Why have you taken me here? Why are you being so nice to me?” she asks, taking off her mask and breathing in deeply. Making you shrug.

“I figured you would be exhausted by now being around so many people especially with that face mask.” You respond not emphasizing how pale and sick she looked. She swallows hard and stares at the ground for a while.

“The doctors say I have to wear it outside because my immune system is to low or something. I don’t really know what that means.” Lexa confesses and you can imagine that is hard to understand for someone so young.

“It is to prevent you from getting sick. Your body is too weak to fight any sickness you might catch from bacteria or viruses.” You elaborate, hoping it makes it a little more understandable for her.

Lexa looks with a certain awe, nobody had ever tried to explain it in such simple words.

“Lexa if I may be blunt can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but what else did the doctors tell you?” Lexa looks a little bit surprised at your question but when she looks into your eyes and sees nothing but kindness she relaxes again. Taking a big breath she speaks.


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/N) has taken Lexa inside to warm her up. things are revealed and big decisions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, COVID19 doesn’t exist in this fic!
> 
> warrnings: Talking about cancer. if this is a trigger don’t read. Everything mentioned is from my own experience as may not apply to everybody.

_“Lexa if I may be blunt can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but what else did the doctors tell you?” Lexa looks a little bit surprised at your question but when she looks into your eyes and sees nothing but kindness she relaxes again. Taking a big breath she speaks._

“I think they called it leukaemia but I don’t know what that means. I only know I get very sick from it and to get better I have to stay in the hospital. My blood hase to get drawn a lot.” Hearing the word fall makes you pause, you had your suspicion it was some kind of cancer but for it to be leukaemia it hits close to home.

At her age, you probably couldn’t have explained it any better and you tell her as much. As a kid, you hated nothing more than talking to an adult and them not listening to you while you were confused.

Lexa looks up at you when you don’t ask questions or look at her weird. When people knew they always looked at her strangle and with pity or they would just avoid her like she had some contagious disease.

“don’t you think I’m weird?” Lexa asks you in a small voice, breaking your heart.

“why would I think you’re weird? Getting sick isn’t something you choose.” You saw tears gather in her eyes at your words and if your heart could break any more it would know. You wanted to soothe her but didn’t want to put her in any more danger.

“When I tell people they look in their eyes changes and they suddenly don’t want to play with me anymore.” Lexa sobs tears now freely falling down her cheeks. Not being able to take it anymore you shrug off your hoodie leaving you in a clean T-shirt. You also grab the disinfectant from your bag before you pick her up. She immediately buries her face in your shoulder and latches onto you with a weak grip.

“I know sweetheart, it’s okay. People fear what they don’t understand and kids can be cruel when they sense something is different.” You rock her back and forth to calm her down.

“but they are right. I am fat, ugly and weak.” Lexa sobs into your shoulder. At the same time, you want to cry with her and yell at the people who made her feel that way.

“that is not true Lexa. Your hair fell out because of the chemo. The chubbiness is because of all the steroids you get in your therapy and the reason you are feeling weak is that you are waging an internal battle. That doesn’t make you weak, do you know what that makes you?” you feel her shake her head in your shoulder, but feel her calming down.

“that makes you strong. It makes you a warrior.” You tell her, believing every word of it. It takes her a couple of minutes to completely calm down but soon enough she is speaking again.

“how do you know that?” her question is innocent and expected. Not many people knew so much about cancer.

“because Lexa I too have had Leukaemia when I was a kid, so I’m speaking out from experience when I say it seems like you are alone in the world but you are not.” It was like a weight fell off your shoulder. What you had told Lexa you hadn’t even told your teammates.

“you had the same thing I have.” Lexa looks up at you with big round eyes. She had never met anybody who had the same thing she had. Kids at the group home rather liked to avoid her because she was different.

“yes, I had. I know that you probably won’t believe me when I tell you when everything is going to be okay but it is.” You promise, making her face fall.

“no it isn’t.” her voice sounds hollow and you are a little confused at her solemn state.

“why not sweetheart?” you hope she trusts you enough to talk to you. Over this short time, you had gotten emotionally attached.

“because I ran away and am probably going to die now.” Being a little shocked hearing her tell you she ran away.

“Why did you run away from home sweetheart?” you feel her shrink into.

“I’m not mad at you Lexa I promise, I just want to help.” At your calm and soothing words, Lexa can’t help but cry again. she tries to explain everything while she is crying but you don’t understand anything of it.

“calm down sweetheart I can’t understand you like this. Try to imitate my breathing.” You lay her hand over your heart so she can feel it beating and calm down.

“because I don’t want to do it alone anymore. The people at the group home don’t care and leave alone always. I don’t want to be alone anymore.” There is so much pain and hurt in her words and you can only imagine the trauma’s she had to go through o her own. Anger overcoming you when hearing her story.

instead of letting your anger consume you make a decision that is best for Lexa. You set her down on the bench again and crouch in front of her to get her attention.

“would you want to fight again if you didn’t have to do it alone?” you ask her trying to keep your own nerves down.

“Nobody wants a broken kid like me. I’m to much work for people to want to adopt me.” She says it with so much conviction you don’t want to know how many times those words have been repeated to her and how many families had turned her down before.

“what if I told you that I would be interested to take you in. I promise you will never have to do any of that scary stuff alone again.” the hope in her eyes makes your heart warm.

“you would want me?” you smile at her and nod. You were going to have to do a couple of preparations ut you were prepared to go the extra mile.

“Lexa I want to go all-in if you want to try it too. The only thing you need to do is trust me oaky?” suddenly Lexa is hanging around your neck and hugging you.

“I want to try.” With those words, you jump into action. You had heard a couple of your teammates on the other side of the door and you would need their help to make this work. Calling out Christen and Ali respond.

want to support me [Buy me a Ko-fi](https://href.li/?https://ko-fi.com/black_dragon1998)


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: you return to the hotel and prepare to introduce Lexa to the team.

“Christen, Ali. I know the two of you are there.” You call through the door, you can hear them shuffling. Before they can respond you start talking again. The faster you got Lexa out of here the better you would feel.

“I know you guys have a lot of questions and I will answer them later. At the moment I have a little girl here with me, her name is Lexa. She doesn’t have family and I’m going to take her to the hotel with me for the moment to figure things out.” There is a long pause before you hear anymore movement, all the while you hold your breath.

“okay (Y/N/N) what do you need?” Ali asks, hearing the concern in her voice.

“I’m going to need the fresh clothes that are in my bag, they are freshly laundered so the infection risk is as low as possible. Also, two facemasks and somebody is going to have to give Vlatko a heads up. Tell him he can yell at me all he wants when we are back at the hotel for now Lexa is my priority.” You ramble off and take a deep breath after. Those were all the things you could think of at the moment.  
Without question, Christen and Ali told you they were going to take care of everything. Hearing your determination about everything made them jump into action faster.

Five minutes later they are back and slide your bag inside the room without stepping in themselves. Vlatko wanted to talk to you back in the hotel, you figured he would want that. Christen also told you that the rest of the team was going to sit in the back of the bus so you and Lexa could sit in the front. You thanked them and told them you would see them on the bus and that it would take more than a couple of minutes for you to be there.

Turning back to Lexa you give her one of the facemasks to put on and the other one you place in a plastic bag and into her backpack. After you quickly change into your new clothes and grab both her and your bag.

“ready?” you ask while helping her up form the bench. She gives you a nod and reaches for her bag but you shake your head. Making her look up at you with a pout. You can understand that she doesn’t like people doing things for her but you can also see how exhausted she is.

“it’s a long walk to the bus, let me carry it for now and if you want you can carry it to the hotel.” You negotiate, she looks at you with a critical eye but agrees and takes the hand that isn’t holding the tow bags. She squeezes your hand ever so often on your way to the bus like she is reassuring herself you are still there.

True to your word Lexa is out like a light the moment she sits down on the bus, leaning against your chest for support and your arm around her to support her. The whole ride you feel the stares of your teammates burning in the back of your head but you ignore them for now. Once Lexa was back at your hotel room you would breathe easily and think about talking to the team.  
When the bus stops at the hotel you are placed in a dilemma. You couldn’t carry Lexa and pick up the bags. Your saving grace comes in the form of a short blond defender. The moment Julie sees you struggle she jumps in to help.

“it’s okay, you carry her and I will make sure the bags end up in your room,” Julie reassures you and you thank her before stepping off with Lexa.  
Luckily for this camp, you had a room to yourself so you wouldn’t think about a roommate when you laid the little girl on the other bed. She hadn’t woken up the whole way and also didn’t when you took off her facemask and placed a water bottle next to her.

You open Lexa’s backpack to looking for any documents in there that could give you the name of the group home. The only things you find are a couple of sneakers, a pair of fresh clothes and plastic drinking bottles, a plush teddy bear but nothing else.   
You laid the teddy bear next to her on the bed and she latches onto it immediately. You made a note for yourself to ask for the name of the group home later to get the whole paper mill started as soon as possible.

You took a quick shower and opened your suitcase to see if you had some clothes for Lexa. Choosing one of your college sweaters and a pair of sweatpants. They would probably be too big for her but you would figure that out later.

Sitting down on the bed with pen and pencil you wroth out the things you needed to do so you didn’t forget. The younger players in the group would make fun of you for doing it but if you didn’t you would just forget. Downsides of getting irradiation at a young age.  
you had to get the name of the group home Lexa was staying in to get everything started there. Had to figure out who her oncologist was and maybe transfer her to a paediatric one you knew, quickly sending a message to one of your friends at the hospital if they had any suggestions. See if you could get a blood test from her to see how her blood values are. Quickly an hour and a half pass and it’s time to go down for dinner before the team marches up and drags the two of you downstairs.

Putting aside your list you gently start to wake up Lexa. You wanted her to at least try and eat something at the very least drink something with sugar. If you tried you were sure you could convince one of the coaches to give you a cola or one of your shakes. That would keep her blood sugar up.  
Lexa tensed when she rose from her slumber, not knowing where she is at first. Only relaxing when she sees you crouched in front of her.

“miss (L/N)?” her voice sounds groggy from sleep and you think adorable.

“yes Lexa it’s me but you can call me (Y/N) if you want. No need with formalities.” You smile down at her. Knowing that her trust was something you were going to need to earn.

“(Y/N),” she repeats, like wanting to know how it sounded after she smiles and relaxes again. It was a baby step but a step non the less. She leaves for the bathroom to change into the clothes you had picked out for her, afterwards, she returns to the room.

“so it’s time for dinner and the team normally eats it together. I thought it would be the best time to introduce you, seeing as you will be spending some time with them. I also have to discuss something with my coach and then you are not alone.” When she heard you were going to leave her alone she lashes onto your arm.

“don’t leave, what if they don’t like me or make fun of me?” Lexa was working herself into a panic but the thought of you leaving her scared her immensely, she had just found you she didn’t want to lose you.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to be gone for long. Just figuring out some legal stuff so you can stay with me okay.” You pull her closer and reassured her.

“also anybody who makes fun of you will have to through me and you want to know a secret.” She leans closer at this as if you were going to tell her the secret of the world nodding her head rapidly.

“They are all scared of me to even try.” You smile down at her and make her giggle. Then she looks at you with doe eyes and hugs you again.

“I don’t think you are scarry. You are a big softy.” After telling the last part she darts outside the room, you close on her heels.

“come back here, you little devil.” You call after her. Finally catching up to her at the elevator picking her up and spinning her around. She laughed the whole time she was in your arms. If your team saw you know they would believe it was you.  
When you put her back down again you notice she is out of breath and look her over with a critical eye.

“you okay. I can carry you if you like.” She shakes her head almost immediately pressing the button for the elevator with her elbow.

“I’m fine just tired, I can make it downstairs.” You don’t take her defensive tone personal, you hate it yourself if people try to smother you and you guess you could tone it down a bit. Inside the elevator, you still see her nervousness and you try to lighten her mood.

“everything is going to be okay, they are going to love you and if they don’t screw them. It’s their loss.” This makes her giggle and you look at her confused.

“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t say screwed in front of a kid.” Her tone was sassy making your eyebrows rase. She was going to keep you on your toes for sure. You just hoped the veterans weren’t going to hear of this or you were dead. Shaking your head you look down at her.

“you are trouble.” She matches your smirk to the T. life sure was going to get interesting.


	4. chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/n) and Lexa tell the team everything and emotions surface.

Waking into the dining room you noticed it was still rather empty. The only ones who were already there were Alex, Kelley at one table and Alyssa at another. Alyssa was probably the safer one to sit at. The younger ones would probably want to joke with Kelley and move around a lot, Alyssa most nights stayed at her table and was one of the most rational people on the team.

The blond keeper looked up when you neared with a nervous Lexa. You tried to reassure her with a hand on her shoulder as you let her closer to the table.

“Alyssa I like you to meet Lexa. Lexa this is one of my many good friends, Alyssa Naether. I know she looks scary but she is a big softy inside.” You introduce. Alyssa rolls her eyes at you but introduces herself to the girl. She could see that the girl was relaxed around you.

“it’s nice to meet you, Lexa.” Lexa doesn’t say anything but does give Alyssa a little nod so the keeper took that as a win.

“is it okay if the two of us sit with you? That way she can take off her facemask and eat in peace.” You ask Alyssa, who looks a bit confused at your panicked state. Normally you were far more relaxed with her.

“sure.” She said trying to reassure you with her eyes. If you were freaking out then it has to be pretty serious about what you had to tell or what was going on. The only thing she could do was support you.

“sure.” Alyssa tried to reassure you with her eyes and a kind smile.

“Thanks, Lyss, you’re the best.” You beamed the keeper with your best smile as you put Lexa’s bottle down on the table and lead Lexa toward the food.

“come on Lexa let’s go see if they're in anything you like.” you tried to stay optimistic, you knew how hard it could be to eat when everything you smelled or saw tasted disgusting. Even too today you had days you couldn’t swallow anything and had to fall back on meal replacement shakes.

Throughout the whole buffet, there was nothing Lexa seemed to fancy at the end you sighted, Lexa looked up with a small face.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered under her breath, your heart broke. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t feeling like eating.

“hey, you don’t have to be sorry about this okay. I will talk with the trainers, normally they have some shakes for me when I don’t feel like eating. I will get you to try one-off those okay. Maybe a cola.” She shakily nods looking down at the floor. Taking her chin between two fingers you make her look up at you.

“say it to me.” Your voice is stern but comforting. You don’t want her to live in the constant fear of disappointing you. You give her an encouraging smile.

“I have nothing to be sorry about.” She told you. Not as confidently as you liked but it was a start. You lead her back to the table and tell her you will be back. Taking her sports bottle with you to fill with some cola.

Alyssa watched as you placed the little girl on the chair in front of her and reassured her that you wouldn’t be gone long. Alyssa had never seen you this tender.

Like the rest of the team, Alyssa had questions, after the end of the game. You had disappeared just after the final whistle had been blown and they had found you thirty minutes in the trainer's locker room with a little kid. When Ali and Christen had tried talking to you, you had given them some very specific orders that the girls couldn’t place. Now seeing the girl in front of her with the face mask and bandana with baseball cap those question only rang louder but they were for later.

“Hey, Lexa.” Alyssa tried to get the girls attention by calling her. Het girl looked up at the keeper with big uncertain eyes.

“Don’t you want anything to eat?” Alyssa asked pointing to her empty plate. All Lexa did was shake her head and look down at the table. Alyssa decided to drop it not wanting until you got back, it was clear you had a connection with the little girl.

The silence in the room was broken when more of the team dripped into the dining room and when more of the younger players it even became rowdy and Lexa flinched at every harsh sound and hoped you would come back fast.

You returned to the dining room with Lexa’s sports bottle filled with cola and one of your shakes. After doing the whole story to Vlatko he had promised to help you with the legal papers and that set up an appointment with your doctor for tomorrow and one for yourself also.

After the whole ordeal, you felled exhausted, all the emotions of the day catching up to you and all you wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep.

Emily spotted you halfway through the room and strode toward you. Like the rest of the team, she had heard about the kid and had seen her with Alyssa. No one of the younger players dared to approach in fear of the older keeper.

“hey (Y/N) how’s the little squirt doing,” Emily asked hoping you would spill something but you weren’t int the mood to talk to anybody.

“buzz off Sonnett.” You growl not being able to contain your frustration and exhaustion. The conversation with Vlatko was a heavy one. Now the stress of getting your blood draw tomorrow was causing extra stress. You had awful veins and you dreaded it.

Emily was taken back by your tone, normally it took you a lot more to rile you up.

“wow, what got your panties in a twist?” Emily tried to lighten your mood.

The conversation between you and Sonnett had drawn the attention of the rest of the team. You could already see Ali and Ash make their way toward you.

Lexa had gotten of her chair and was running toward you, she could see how stressed you were and she wanted to help because you always helped her.

“(Y/N)!” Lexa grabbed your hand tried to give it a reassuring squeeze but because of her weakened state, it wasn’t hard and also tried to give you a reassuring smile. You didn’t know if you should laugh or cry, how could a child that had gone through all she had to be still so compassionate. Sinking through your knees make you almost eye level with her.

This caused all the veterans to immediately come running toward you while the younger players just watched. There was a small panic going around the team, you never showed emotions so openly.so I kind of freaked them out. Even though you hadn’t shed a single tear you looked exhausted.

“I’m okay Lexa. Thank you.” You whisper to the girl, looking at her gave you enough courage to scrape yourself together and lead her back to the table. When she sat down you handed her the coke and shake, which looked at sceptically but opened it when you told her it tasted like strawberries. After the sip, she takes another and another.

When the team decided you have ignored them enough they send Ali and Ash to talk to you. Seeing as they had the best track record with you.

You could feel their eyes burning into your back and it was just a matter of time before they tried to talk to you. For the moment you just watched Lexa enjoy her shake.

“your friends are staring at us,” Lexa commented looking at you from under her cap. She looks cute with one of your caps and hoodie.

“I know. They will come over here any moment to talk. They like to do that. You want to tell them?” you would leave the choice to her, it’s her life and you would support her either way.

“I want to stay with you.” She confesses looking up at you with big eyes. It makes you happy she felled secure with you.

“I know that sweety but that doesn’t mean I am forcing you to tell them. I’m not going to force you to tell them anything you don’t want to.” You assure her.

“But I want to be honest with them.”

“well if you are brave enough maybe I could half as brave and do the same.” You stroke her cheek and smile at her. Krashlyn took that moment to interrupt you.

“What should you tell us?” Ashlyn asked while she and Ali sit down in front of you before you look up you catch Lexa’s eye.

“ready little warrior.” She gives you a simple nod. Turning to the couple and try to give them a reassuring smile.

“Lexa and I have to tell you all something.” Suddenly a lot of voices started talking. Asking what it was and how you met Lexa. You cut through it with a sharp whistle and instruct them all to take a seat and listen. You had never seen them sit down so fast and be shut up, maybe you should try that whistle more.

“you want to tell them first?” Lexa swallowed hard before she looked up at the soccer players.

“okay guy’s this is Lexa I met her today after the game, after talking to her I have decided to become her legal guardian. Vlatko is helping me with the papers.” You pause for the information to sink in but not long enough for chaos to break out.

“wait with the questions and judgment until after Lexa and I have done our story.” You gave Lexa a reassuring smile while glaring at your teammates. Lexa grabs your hand for support.

“I have leukaemia and (Y/N) had promised to stay with me so I don’t have to do the therapy alone. I hate being alone in the hospital and she makes me feel safe.” The weight of the word behind the childlike didn’t go unnoticed by you.

Many of the soccer players in front of you had unshed tears in their eyes. After her story, Lexa buries her face into your shoulder. Hugging her back in return almost seemed like second nature.

“you were so brave, little warrior. I’m so proud of you.” You Lexa while hugging her close. When I was obvious she wouldn’t be say anything more.

“I saw Lexa in the stands alone and could immediately tell what the problem was. A couple of kids were picking on her for it, that is when I decided to step in and take her inside with me, I didn’t know how bad her immune system was so I didn’t want to take any chances. Tomorrow both of us have to go to the hospital for a blood test. Then I can tell how much resistance she is against bacteria.” You explain stroking Lexa’s back soothing her and trying to minimize her stress.

“why would they be picking on her?” Christen asks, not understanding why Lexa would be bullied. You have to chuckle at their childlike innocence, most never had to deal with people looking at them weird or shinning them for being different.

“Because people are A-holes, who mistreat everything that is different and not to normal standards.” You grith out between clenched teeth, memories from your past resurfacing. You still remember the stares and the whispers from when you were in a wheelchair because you were to weak to walk. People were far less subtle than they thought they were.

“yes, they are.” Lexa agrees with you while climbing in your lap to hug you. You figured all the emotions and exhaustion were getting to her, so you drab your arms around her so she can rest a bit.

The whole team looks at you shocked at how soft you are with the little girl. They had never seen you so soft. Some of the veterans were concerned when you told them you were becoming this little girls guardian, to team standards you were still a baby. Only being a couple of months older than Tierna but seeing you like this changed their minds. Also, an unspoken promise was going through the group, they would help you in any way they could.

Taking a deep breath you looked at your team, who were watching you and Lexa with big eyes. Now was as good a time as any to drop your own bomb, hoping that having Lexa with you will lessen the yelling they were going to do.

“There is something I want to tell you guys,” you speak before losing your nerves, freaking out internally. What if they start treating you differently? What if they start looking at you with pity?

Well, you couldn’t go back now.

“There is another reason I stepped out into the crowd today. I saw a lot of myself in Lexa. Because I also had leukaemia as a kid. Twice actually.” Gasp go through the group moments before questions are fired at you.

“(Y/N) sweetheart, why didn’t you tell us?” Ali asks coming closer so she can give you a reassuring smile and doesn’t scare you away.

“This is the only place I feel normal.” You confess not looking up at your team.

“it’s tough being a kid with leukaemia, people treat you different when they know. I was diagnosed for the first time when I was six. You are forced to grow up mentally and emotionally so fast sometimes you forget you are only a kid. I learned to put things into perspective fast, fearing you are not going to going to make it to the next day makes other kids tantrums banal in comparison. This caused me to stick out around my peers and made it hard to make friends. Not that it bothered me that much at that age, I was in the hospital a lot. You take a moment to take a couple of breath before you continue.

“Football is something I love and I didn’t want to be treated differently because of it. That is the big reason I didn’t tell anybody.” A lot of the woman around you are crying or holding each other for comfort. Lexa tightened her hold on you.

The silence in the room is heavy buy familiar. Most people didn’t know what to say after you told them so you decided to let them process everything first before they had to speak to you.

“Alright, that is enough emotions for one day. I’m taking Lexa back to my room so she can rest.” Getting up you grab her sports bottle with you while making your way to the elevator with Lexa in your arms.


End file.
